The fourth film in the Terminator franchise will debut in theaters in just under two months, yet there is still no official rating for the film…or is there? Director McG has lobbied hard for an "R" rating in the past, citing the original films as precedent, but the producers of the film have been pressuring McG to cut certain scenes so that the film could receive a "PG-13" rating, which, they hope, will help broaden the fan base for the film.
In an interview with Movies Online, McG said:
"We want to make the best film possible. We just don’t care about the rating. We don’t aim for the rating and we’ve been given the freedom by the head of the studio to just make the best picture possible. That’s very, very freeing. We’re just going to make the movie."
However, the decision to tone down the sex (reportedly, Moon Bloodgood, who plays Blair Williams, a tough human pilot with a Terminator crush, filmed a topless scene) and violence may have already been made. According to the Pizza Hut cross-promotional site, the latest film in the Terminator franchise has a "PG-13" rating. Is this a screw-up or has McG lost the "war of the (corporate) machines" and edited his film for the younger set? Due to this slip-up, the answer is likely to be forthcoming,
Terminator Salvation synopsis courtesy of Warner Bros.:
"Terminator Salvation" is set in post-apocalyptic 2018, where John Connor (Christian Bale) is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future that Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past.
As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind."